The Beau Monde’s 2020 Virtual Writers Retreat in June introduced attendees to a brave new world – the world of coming together by way of technological wizardry. As Regency romance authors, there is another way we bring the world together—writing one happily-ever-after at the time. And that means happily-ever-after’s for everyone, because no matter the race, religion, creed, color, sexual orientation or disability they all lived and loved in England during the Regency Era.
Let me say that again. They all lived and loved during the Regency Era!
Which means for those of us who have never included diverse and/or marginalized characters in our Regency romances we have a whole new source of people to cast as heroes, heroines, family, friends, and yes, even villains. An exciting notion to say the least. Just think of the possibilities!
LaQuette’s amazing Critical Lens class showed us both the importance of writing fully-developed diverse characters and the hard work entailed in doing so. These lessons will lay a whole new foundation for the expansion of the Regency romance genre. The next step is to do the research that will open the lives, experiences, and loves of England’s diverse citizens to each of us so we can do their stories justice. The best part is that this research is going to spark so many story ideas, plotlines, and character possibilities we won’t be able to wait to write them.
Not to mention that this research will give us insights into the complete Regency world—politics, religion, fashion, business, entertainment, war, Society, and all of the little things that make the Regency world real to readers. Diverse characters played a part in every aspect of life in Regency England. Whether you are featuring them as heroes and heroines or including them in the lives of your heroes and heroines, diverse characters deserve to be fully fleshed out real people. That means good research is a must.
The sources on these lists below are all sources I have personally read and vetted. I’ve checked them for accuracy, no agenda, and documentation. As with all research, there is always more out there. The best part about writing about marginalized characters now is that new sources are being discovered every day. What I love about these sources is that they all include input from the people who lived these diverse lives. History may be written by the victors, but life is recorded in the letters, diaries, journals, and records of the bold.
Happy Researching and even Happier Writing!
Regency Research Resources with an Emphasis on Marginalized Groups
Black Citizens of Regency England
Books
Children of Uncertain Fortune: Mixed-Race Jamaicans in Britain and the Atlantic Family, 1733-1833 by David Livesay
The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Equiano; or Gustavu Vassa, the African written by Himself
Britain’s Black Past by Gretchen Gerzina
Black London: Life Before Emancipation< by Gretchen Gerzina
Black and British: A Forgotten History by David Olusoga
Staying Power: The History of Black People in Britain by Peter Fryer
Mary Seacole: The Most Famous Black Woman of the Victorian Age by Jane Robinson
Black Personalities in the Era of the Slave Trade by Paul Edwards and James Walvin
Black People in Britain 1555-1833 by F.O. Shyllon
Black Slaves in Britain by F.O. Shyllon
The Letters of the Late Ignatius Sancho by Ignatius Sancho and Vincent Carreta
African-British Writings in the Eighteenth Century: The Politics of Race and Reason by Helena Woodward
Measuring Moment: Strategies of Protest in Eighteenth-Century Afro-English Writing by Keith Sandiford
Music and Musicians In Early Nineteenth-Century Cornwall: The World of Joseph Emidy – Slave, Violinist and Composer by Richard McGrady
Black Salt: Seafarers of African Descent on British Ships by Ray Costello
Thoughts and Sentiments on the Evil of Slavery by Quobna Ottobah
Untold Histories: Black people in England and Wales during the period of the British Slave trade, c. 1660–1807 by Kathleen Chater
The Making of the Black Working Class in Britain by Ron Ramdin
Richmond Unchained: The Biography of the World’s First Black Sporting Superstar by Luke G. Williams
Equiano’s Daughter: The Life and Times of Joanna Vassa, Daughter of Olaudah Equiano, Gustavus Vassa, The African by Angelina Osborne
Black Britannia: A History of Blacks in Britain by Edward Scoble
Slave Women in Caribbean Society: 1650-1838 by Barbara Bush
The Black Count by Tom Reiss
Websites
Another great resource is the Equiano Centre: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/equiano-centre/projects/black-londoners-1800-1900
As is this website: https://blackpresence.co.uk/
Asian Citizens of Regency England
Books
A South Asian History of Britain: Four Centuries of Peoples from the Indian Subcontinent by Michael Fisher, Shompa Lahiri and Shinder Thandi. London: Greenwood Press, May 2007.
The Chinese in Britain – A History of Visitors and Settlers by Barclay Price (2019).
The Chinese in Britain, 1800 – present, Economy, Transnationalism by Benton Gomez and Gregor Edmund
Chinese Liverpudlians: A history of the Chinese Community in Liverpool, by Maria Lin Wong. Liver Press, 1989.
Asians in Britain: 400 years of History by Rozina Visram
Indian Citizens of Regency England
Books
Poor Relations: The Making of a Eurasian Community in British India, 1773–1833. by Christopher J. Hawes
White Mughals by William Dalrymple (Fiction)
The Anarchy: The East India Company, Corporate Violence, and the Pillage of an Empire by William Dalrymple
The Sepoy Rebellion of 1857: The History and Legacy of the Indian Rebellion against the British East India Company by Charles Rivers Editors
Muslim Citizens of Regency England
Books
The Infidel Within: The History of Muslims in Britain, 1800 to the Present. by Humayun Ansari
Jewish Citizens of Regency England
Books
The Jews of Georgian England 1714-1830 – Tradition and Change in a Liberal Society by Todd M. Endelman
The Jews in the History of England, 1485–1850 by David Katz
Theatrical Nation: Jews and Other Outlandish Englishmen in Georgian Britain by Michael Ragussis
Anti-Semitic Stereotypes: A Paradigm of Otherness in English Popular Culture, 1660–1830 by Frank Felsenstein
Gay Citizens of Regency England
Books
Ackroyd, Peter, Queer City: Gay London from the Romans to the Present Day. London: Henry N. Abrams, 2018.
Alexander, Boyd, ed., Life at Fonthill 1807-1822, with Interludes in Paris and London from the Correspondence of William Beckford. London, 1954.
Bloch, Ivan, Sexual Life in England Past and Present, trans. London: William H. Forstern, 1938.
Boucé, P-G. (ed.), Sexuality in Eighteenth Century Britain. Manchester: 1982.
Burg, B., Boys at Sea: Sodomy, Indecency, and Courts Martial in Nelson’s Navy. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007.
Burg, B.R., Sodomy and the Perception of Evil: English Sea Rovers in the Seventeenth-Century Caribbean. New York: New York University Press, 1983.
Clarke, Charlotte, A Narrative of the Life of Mrs. Charlotte Clarke. London: Pickering and Chatto, 1999.
Cocks, H.G., Nameless Offenses-Homosexual Desires in the 19th Century. London: I.B. Taurus, 2010.
Crompton, Louis, Byron and Greek Love – Homophobia in 19th Century England. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985.
Donoghue, Emma, Passions Between Women: British Lesbian Culture 1668-1801. New York: Harper Collins, 1995.
Elliott, Clinton, Hidden: The Intimate Lives of Gay Men Past and Present. Bloomington: Author House, 2013.
Feinberg, Leslie, Transgender Warriors: Making History from Joan of Arc to Dennis Rodman. Boston: Beacon Press, 1997.
Gatrell, Vic, City of Laughter: Sex and Satire in Eighteenth-Century London. London: Walker Books, 2006.
Goldsmith, Netta Murray, The Worst of Crimes: Homosexuality and the Law in Eighteenth-Century London. London: Ashgate Pub Ltd, 1999.
Haggerty, G.E., Men in Love: Masculinity and Sexuality in the Eighteenth-Century. New York: Columbia University Press, 1999.
Haggerty, G.E., Queer Gothic. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2006.
Harvey, A.D., Sex in Georgian England. London: Phoenix Press, 2001.
Hepworth, Mike, Blackmail: Publicity and Secrecy in Everyday Life. London: W.H. Allen, 1975.
Hitchcock, Tim, English Sexualities, 1700-1800. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 1997.
Holloway, Robert, The Phoenix of Sodom or the Vere Street Coterie. London: J. Cook, 1813.
Holmes, Rachel, Scanty Particulars: The Scandalous Life and Astonishing Secret of James Barry, Queen Victoria’s Most Eminent Military Doctor. New York: Random House, 2003.
Hurwood, Bernhardt J., The Golden Age of Erotica. London: Tandem, 1968.
Kimmel, Michael S., Love Letters Between a Certain Late Nobleman and the Famous Mr. Wilson. Abingdon: Routledge, 1990.
Liddington, Jill, Female Fortune: Land, Gender and Authority. London: Rivers Oram Press, 1998.
Liddington, Jill, Nature’s Domain: Anne Lister and the Landscape of Desire. Hebden Bridge: Pennine Pens, 2003.
Lister, Anne, The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister, Volume One. London: Little, Brown UK, 2012.
Lister, Anne, The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister, Volume Two. London: Little, Brown UK, 2020.
Manion, Jen, Female Husbands: A Trans History. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2020.
McCalman, Iain, Radical Underworld: Prophets, Revolutionaries and Pornographers in London, 1795-1840. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1988.
McCormick, Ian, Sexual Outcasts: 1750-1850. Abingdon, UK: Routledge, 2000.
McLaren, Angus, Sexual Blackmail: A Modern History. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2002.
Moore, Lucy, Amphibious Thing: The life of Lord Hervey. London: Endeavour Media, 2015.
Mowl, Timothy, Horace Walpole: The Great Outsider. London: John Murray Pubs Ltd, 1998.
Norton, Rictor, Mother Clap’s Molly House – The Gay Subculture in England 1700-1830. Stroud, Gloucestershire: The Chalford Press, 2006.
Norton, Rictor, The Myth of the Modern Homosexual: Queer History and the Search for Cultural Unity. London: Cassell, 1998.
Peakman, Julie, Amatory Pleasures: Explorations in Eighteenth-Century Sexual Culture. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2016.
Reeve, Matthew M., Gothic Architecture and Sexuality in the Circle of Horace Walpole. University Park: Penn State University Press, 2020.
Robb, Graham, Strangers: Homosexual Love in the Nineteenth Century. New York: W W Norton & Co Inc, 2004.
Robinson, Michael, Ornamental Gentlemen: Literary Antiquarianism and Queerness in British Literature and Culture, 1760-1890. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2020.
Rowse, A. I., Homosexuality in History. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1977.
Sebba, Anne, The Exiled Collector – William Bankes and the Making of an English Country House. London: John Murray, 2004.
Upchurch, Charles, Before Wilde: Sex Between Men in Britain’s Age of Reform. Berkley, CA: University of California Press, 2009.
White, Chris, Nineteenth-Century Writings on Homosexuality – A Sourcebook. London: Routledge, 1999.
Pamphlets / Google Books
The Infamous Life of John Church
The Female Soldier; Or, The Surprising Life and Adventures of Hannah Snell
Plain reasons for the growth of sodomy in England: to which is added, The petit maitre, an odd sort of unpoetical poem, in the trolly-lolly stile
A Reading List
GoodReads List: Best Gay Historical Romance
Website
Gay History & Literature: Essays by Rictor Norton
There are a number of gay history websites out there, but this one is the Holy Grail for anyone interested in gay history during the years of our study and of the Regency Era in particular. I will warn you Rictor Norton’s website is a never-ending research rabbit hole. He has spent a lifetime pouring over newspaper archives and trial records from the Old Bailey to assemble the most complete source for research of gay life during the Regency. And he is constantly adding new material to the website so it is best to check it on a weekly basis.